INDUSTRY STATS
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Photographer positions are at a 29% growth rate, which is much faster than average. With that said, there are currently 63,300 jobs in the market right now. The total number of jobs is expected to increase by 18,300 to 81,600 in the period of 2020-30.
What’s more, the median annual wage for the Photographer jobs was $61,900 in May 2020. The lowest 10% earned less than $34,870, and the highest 10% more than $152,720.
Our conclusion? The Photographer job market is wide open for candidates.
Top Photographer sections that make the best resume
- Header
- Professional summary
- Experience (with numbers and results)
- Relevant skills
- Education
- Certifications
How to write a Photographer resume experience section
Photographer Resume’s Job Experience Checklist:
- Use 4-6 bullet points per job title;
- Don’t go further than a decade behind when describing your job history, unless you’re applying for an executive position;
- Combine job responsibilities as well as achievements with numbers in results when you describe your past work;
- Start each sentence with a power verb and avoid overused buzzwords;
- Use either C-A-R or S-T-A-R methodology, when describing your experience.
The work experience samples below come from real Photographer resumes that got people hired at top companies. You can use them as an inspiration to build your own resume:
- Written more than 15 articles on investigative, athletic, cultural and academic topics of student interest (http://aubgdaily.com/author/georgi-dobrev/)
- Succeeded in winning the "Social Owl" award a number of times awarded for the most read article for the month
- Edit fellow writers' articles on a daily basis for two years
- Promoted sport through publishing of the creation of a sports column and the publication of sport articles
- Managing and editing photos for 600+ vehicles
- Inventory stock and requisition to new stock on lot
- Quality control to ensure customer satisfaction
- Design and print buyers guides and equipment lists
- Photographing cars and managing vehicle inventory
- Maintaining all buyers guides and equipment list for each vehicle
- Placing all inventory online
- Participator in the foundation of the association
- Being a passionate photgrapher I made most of the photoes at the events
- Organized some of the lessons and teached at lots of them
- Managed social media accounts and accumulated a following of 15,000 within a year through strategic marketing
- Provided brands with native product-based advertising and exceeded their expected traffic ratio per post
- Generated revenue by providing independents with basic photography services, such as LinkedIn headshots
- Collaborated with various brands including LG Canada to advertise their product and providing quality images
- Processed photos with use of Adobe Creative products; ensured clients were always satisfied with final images
- Interest in marketing and proactivity: shown by running a private photography studio for 1 year and continually booking photo-shoots due to active use of a range of social media platforms and other marketing strategies.
- Problem solving: proven to be able to handle the pressure of everything going wrong on a photo-shoot, without transferring that onto the client, and still being able to deliver a high quality end product.
- Attention to detail: demonstrated by having a strong sense for customer satisfaction with the final product and its value to the client in mind.
- Communication skills: developed through constant coaching of my client to produce the best image possible for them.
- Provide photography services to clients
- Edit and manipulate photos for clients’ desired end product
- Close it down due to lack of team and pricing competition
- Building social media presence on Facebook and Instagram
- Implementing social media strategies
- Increasing fan base in social media
- Executing more than 30 portrait and over 20 event photo sessions
- Performing studio photoshoots, wedding, portrait and food photography
- Published in Condé Nast Traveler and Siem Reap Airways
- Permanent collections: Galerie Bergstub’l, Berlin, Germany and the Newark Public Library, Special Collections Division
- Product, wedding, portraiture, and travel
- Specializing in Portrait and Event Photography
- Working with a team of professionals and creating advertisements – print and video productions
- Slightly experienced in video shooting, postproduction and copywriting
- Photograph and edit lifestyle images for advertising campaigns.
- Shoot, light and edit over 30 videos and manage them for Youtube.
- Utilize IBM WebSphere CMS to upload content from vendor catalogs.
- Propose equipment budget and video ideas to supervisors.
- Photographed and prepared photos for print and online publication.
- Managed photo editor’s responsibilities during the editor’s vacation periods.
- Researched and presented news stories to the editorial staff.
- Photographed major student events as well as graduations.
- Designed the layout for two 150-page yearbook editions.
- Created original cover art for three individual editions.
PRO TIP
In writing your Photographer resume, you will no doubt want to list your previous duties - as you should. But steer clear of just listing your duties, instead of your achievements. Make your resume stand out by communicating what you have done, and not merely what the job needed you to do.
Action Verbs for your Photographer Resume
Recommended reads:
Photographer Resume Skills’ Tips & Tricks to Impress Recruiters
Resume Skills Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Skills for your Photographer resume
- Photoshop
- Indesign
- Illustrator
- Lightroom
- Canva
- Self confidence
- Creativity
- Humor
- Innovation
- Storytelling
PRO TIP
When picking skills to feature in your resume, make sure they'll be relevant to the position you’re applying to. The point of listing skills is for you to stand out from the competition. Stay away from repetitive, meaningless skills that everyone uses in their resumes. Or else, they’ll backfire and make you look like an average candidate.
Recommended reads:
Photographer Resume Header: Tips, Red Flags, and Best Practices
CHECKLIST For Your Photographer Resume Header
- Your name and surname in a legible and larger resume font
- The job title you’re applying for or your current job title as a subheading to your name
- Link to your portfolio or online profile, such as LinkedIn
- Address (City and State for the US; just your city for rest of the world)
- Email address
- Headshot (required or welcomed in the EU; not required and sometimes frowned upon in the US)
Stick to popular email providers such as Gmail or Outlook. And use these professional formats to create your username:
- first.last@gmail.com
- last.first@gmail.com
- firstlast@gmail.com
- f.last@gmail.com
- first.l@gmail.com
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
Include a link to your portfolio in your Photographer resume header. Most companies will require that you include one in your resume, and even if they don’t, it’s an excellent opportunity to directly show them your proudest projects.
Photographer Resume Summary Best Practices
Checklist: What to include in your Photographer resume summary:
- Years of experience;
- Highlight top 3 skills and proficiencies;
- One big professional accomplishment you’re most proud of, that you can tie with the aforementioned skills;
- Use short, direct sentences - but no more than three - to keep the HRs interested.
Resume Summary Formula:
PRO TIP
Highlight specific past projects that you’re most proud of in your summary. It sets an excellent tone for the rest of your resume. You can talk about all of your former jobs in your work experience section later on.
Recommended reads:
Listing Your Education, Certifications and Courses
Resume Education Section Checklist:
- Ensure your hard skills section (including technologies) are exactly matching the job description.
- Don’t simply list your soft skills. Apply the “show, don’t tell” principle - let your job achievements speak for themselves.
- Find a way to showcase your skills beyond the skills section.
- Your resume’s skill section is important to ATS systems - so don’t skip it.
Top Certifications for your Photographer resume
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
There are dozens of certifications that you can claim as a Photographer. But, some are more effective than others. That’s why you mustn’t include every certificate other applicants might have. Try instead to earn and list a few of the difficult ones.
Photographer Resume: Additional Writing & Formatting Tips
There are three basic resume formats you can choose from:
- Reverse-chronological resume format;
- Functional resume format;
- Hybrid (or Combination) resume format;
The most optimal format for your particular case will depend on your years of experience, as well as whether you’re switching industries or not.
Reverse chronological resumes are best suited for experienced individuals who are sticking to their industry. The experience section takes a central place, and its bullets contain your responsibilities and achievements, coupled with numbers and results.
Functional resumes are used by less experienced jobseekers or career changers. Note that it’s not a format that recruiters prefer, as most are used to the classic chronological alignment. Instead of a list of job titles, functional resumes focus on your skills, and through what experiences you gained them.
Hybrid resumes are great for both experienced and entry-level candidates, as well as career changers. They combine the best of both worlds - most often in a double column format, where one side of the content is focused on your experience, whereas the other - on your skills, strengths, and proudest moments.
Photographer Resume Summary best practices
Here are more resume tips regarding your layout and style:
- Clear and legible 12p resume font size;
- Use 10’’ resume margins - that’s default for a great resume design;
- Use a one-page template resume length if you’ve got less than 10 years of experience; otherwise, opt for a two-page resume;
- Save your resume as PDF before sending it to the recruiter.
To take it a step further, check out how your resume can stand out without leaning too much on the creative side.
Recommended reads:
PRO TIP
If you feel that you don’t have high chances in a particular company, due to lack of relevant experience, then you can still consider using a creative layout. That might help you get noticed and invited for an interview, as most of the other applicants will have boring resume designs.
Other sections to include in your resume
Depending on the type of company (corporation or start-up; innovative or traditional), job seniority level and your location, you may want to include more sections to your Photographer resume:
Photographer Resume: How to Make Yours More Creative & Stand Out
When you send your resume to a potential employer, chances are it's the fiftieth one they've seen that day. That's why you need to make your Photographer resume stand out for the right reasons. That means showing your personality, not just your professional experience. Employers are far more likely to remember a candidate who seems like a genuine person and not a robot. Do this by including your passions (which is also a great place to demonstrate skills on a resume), share your favorite books, or even what your usual day looks like.
What Makes a Great Photographer Resume: Key Takeaways
- Choose a resume layout that sends the right message across and fits your current career situation;
- Create a resume header that shows your desired job title, and easy to find contact numbers;
- Be specific about your experience, accomplishments and future goals in your summary;
- Feature detailed metrics and specific examples that show the impact you made in your previous roles when describing your experience;
- List soft skills backed by examples;
- Add all of your technical skills and certifications that you have and match the job description;
- Show off a dash of personality in your resume that will demonstrate your culture fit and the right mix of hard and soft skills.
